What Are The Pros and Cons of Car Engine Remapping?

A performance remap is certainly something to consider if you are looking for greater fuel economy or increased power and performance from your vehicle. But what exactly is the procedure and what are the pros and cons of a performance remap?

A car remap is made possible by remapping your engine. Your vehicle has an Engine Control Unit (ECU) and this controls the ignition timing and most importantly imposes speed and rev limits on your motor engine. A performance remap works by reprogramming the ECU and thus removes restrictions previously imposed on your vehicles revs and top speed. A new microchip can be plugged into your car’s circuit board and installed using a diagnostic port connected up to a laptop.

This ‘microchip’ or ‘superchip’ is why you may have heard of a performance remap being referred to as ‘car chipping’. Specialist remapping superchips mean you can see exactly what improvements a new microchip can yield before you go ahead with the procedure.

The Pros to engine remapping

A performance remap can significantly increase fuel economy as it adds torque and thus lowers down the rev range. Brake Horse Power can also be drastically improved. People are often concerned that a performance remap can lead to problems with their car but a professional performance remap should not affect your car’s reliability in any way. Remapping puts mildly more strain on an engine but if you get a professional performance remap you can be sure that this will never reach a dangerous level as the maximum safe performance levels will not be exceeded.

What is important to recognise is that in most cases cars engines are built to perform better than they actually do. One explanation for this is that car manufacturers often launch performance versions of the car and they don’t usually put a new engine in when they do this. Effectively, if you opt for a performance remap from a garage you are in many instances simply upgrading to an improved or sportier version of your car but at a much lower price than buying the manufacturers branded racy equivalent.

The Cons to engine remapping

This may sound too good to be true, so what is the downside to engine remapping? Well, the simple answer to that is insurance. Historically insurers have been fearful of chipped cars and used to look to bump up the price of your insurance if you had a performance remap. Thankfully this is not so much the case anymore, and most insurance companies will now make little or no adjustment to the price of your insurance. You do however still have to let them know when you have had a car remap.

DPF Solutions Sheffield performs the best engine remapping Sheffield has to offer. If you are looking to benefit from a professional car remap please contact us today and one of our friendly team can provide you with free advice and a free personal consultation to see whether a performance remap could benefit you.